The demo for Oolo offers up a magical metroidvania with hints of classic Zelda

“Hang on a sec. Haven’t I seen this exact genre of little guy before?” was my reaction upon encountering the yellow-eyed, hat-shrouded mage of isometric adventure Oolo. Some quick internet sleuthing turned up this lovely bit of art featuring Final Fantasy 9’s Vivi, Journey’s Traveller, and He-Man’s Orko. It’s a great feeling to begin your week identifying an archetype of diminutive magician, and I hope it becomes a regular occurrence. Another pleasant discovery was Oolo itself, which you can discover yourself through the shrouded magic of this link to it’s free demo.

(Do I need to keep writing ‘free demo’, by the way? I tend to alternate. It’s obviously redundant but I feel writing ‘free’ gives it a certain gravitas. Free tax rebate. Free sunrise. Free oxygen. It makes things sound better.)

Oolo is, I gather, the name of your purple wizard. The Steam page promises a sort of homage to isometric adventures of yore, and this moony yore-gazing is immediately apparent in a couple of nice ways. Firstly, the goal of the demo is to find a glowy green trinket named the ‘earth key’. Love that. Love not needing to worry about absent love ones or societal threats and just setting out to find a bloody lovely shiny key.

Image credit: Riddle Master Productions

The second is the music, starting with a few plaintive key plucks before growing into some rushy, synthy brass that evokes two dudes with opposite vocal ranges shouting the word ‘adventure!’ at you really fast in either ear, layered over with some hobbity strings. Adventure it is!

The music gets ever lovelier as you start to explore, ambling your way through one isometric room at a time. You hop around, with a deeply satisfying thud when you fall off high ledges, and solve a few jumping puzzles. These feel a little tricky with the viewpoint, but the game lets you tilt rooms and switch between movement control schemes for precision. Soon, you collect a pair of gauntlets that let you push blocks. It’s all very classic Zelda in its flourishes, with hints of metroidvania through the multiple paths and ever-expanding map.

I manage to die after falling on to some spikes after a bit, upon which the game informs me that “the world flame” has burnt out. Nothing’s ever simple is it? I knew it couldn’t just be a key! Still, world-saving labour or not, I’m quite smitten by Oolo, which is clearly a labour of love. Here are some touted features:

• Explore a vast world with over 400 interconnected rooms!
• Venture through dark forests, subterranean crypts, deadly swamps, and more.
• Find new artifacts that change the way you move and interact with the world.
• Move blocks, ride enemies, and jump your way to exciting new areas.
• Non-violent fun for the entire family!
• Scour the land for the six elemental keys that will unlock the portal to the World Flame.
• Secret areas and hidden powers await the heartiest adventurers.
• Discover memories of keepers who rekindled the flame in generations past to give you hints for your journey!

I would argue that Oolo falling on those spikes suggests violence, but only if you think about too hard. Otherwise, a fine entry in the pantheon of yellow-eyed conjurers.